Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Philadelphia Inquirer
February 13, 2008 A U.S. cable defends seeking death penalties, using the Nuremberg trials as a comparison.
By Matthew Lee, Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration has instructed U.S. diplomats abroad to defend its decision to seek the death penalty for six Guantanamo Bay detainees accused in the Sept. 11 attacks by recalling the executions of Nazi war criminals after World War II.
A four-page cable sent to U.S. embassies and obtained yesterday by the Associated Press says execution as punishment for extreme violations of the laws of war is internationally accepted, pointing to the 1945-46 International Military Tribunals as an example.
Twelve of Adolf Hitler's senior aides were sentenced to death at the trials in Nuremberg, Germany, although not all were executed in the end.
The unclassified cable was sent Monday by the State Department to U.S. diplomatic missions worldwide.
In it, the department advises U.S. diplomats to refer to Nuremberg if asked by foreign governments or news media about the legality of capital punishment in the Sept. 11 cases.
"International Humanitarian Law contemplates the use of the death penalty for serious violations of the laws of war," says the cable, composed by the office of the department's legal adviser, John Bellinger.
"The most serious war criminals sentenced at Nuremberg were executed for their actions," it says.
The cable makes no link between the scale of the crimes perpetrated by the Nazis, which included the killing of six million European Jews and other minorities, and those allegedly committed by the Guantanamo detainees, who are accused of murder and war crimes in connection with Sept. 11, in which nearly 3,000 people died.
But it makes clear that the White House sees Nuremberg as a historic precedent in asking for the Sept. 11 defendants to be executed.
The decision to seek the death penalty for the six Guantanamo defendants is likely to draw criticism from the international community. A number of countries, including U.S. allies, have said they would object to the use of capital punishment for their nationals held at Guantanamo.
The cable is written in a question-and-answer format in anticipation of inquiries that diplomats may get from foreigners about the Pentagon's Monday announcement of the trial and charges.
Much of the cable is taken up with descriptions of the defendants and the allegations against them, as well as assurances they will receive fair trials.
The Nuremberg reference is in the response offered to the sample question: "Doesn't the application of the death penalty to these defendants violate international law?"
The one-word answer provided before the explanation that invokes Nuremberg: "No."
The proceeding will be the first capital trial under the terrorism-era U.S. military tribunal system.
A death sentence requires the concurrence of all members of the military panel who are present. Sentences of 10 years to life in prison require concurrence of three-fourths of the panel members.
Despite the confidence of military prosecutors, the case has been clouded by revelations that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the attacks, was subjected to interrogation tactics that critics call torture.
Steven Shapiro, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union, said: "The administration now has placed itself in a terrible bind because it subjected at least some, if not all, the six men to harsh interrogation techniques that the world regards as torture."
The cable instructs diplomats to advise foreign governments that the tribunal will not accept evidence obtained through torture and that the defendants can raise objections to any statements they say were made under coercion. Those decisions will be up to the judge, the cable says.
February 13, 2008 A U.S. cable defends seeking death penalties, using the Nuremberg trials as a comparison.
By Matthew Lee, Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration has instructed U.S. diplomats abroad to defend its decision to seek the death penalty for six Guantanamo Bay detainees accused in the Sept. 11 attacks by recalling the executions of Nazi war criminals after World War II.
A four-page cable sent to U.S. embassies and obtained yesterday by the Associated Press says execution as punishment for extreme violations of the laws of war is internationally accepted, pointing to the 1945-46 International Military Tribunals as an example.
Twelve of Adolf Hitler's senior aides were sentenced to death at the trials in Nuremberg, Germany, although not all were executed in the end.
The unclassified cable was sent Monday by the State Department to U.S. diplomatic missions worldwide.
In it, the department advises U.S. diplomats to refer to Nuremberg if asked by foreign governments or news media about the legality of capital punishment in the Sept. 11 cases.
"International Humanitarian Law contemplates the use of the death penalty for serious violations of the laws of war," says the cable, composed by the office of the department's legal adviser, John Bellinger.
"The most serious war criminals sentenced at Nuremberg were executed for their actions," it says.
The cable makes no link between the scale of the crimes perpetrated by the Nazis, which included the killing of six million European Jews and other minorities, and those allegedly committed by the Guantanamo detainees, who are accused of murder and war crimes in connection with Sept. 11, in which nearly 3,000 people died.
But it makes clear that the White House sees Nuremberg as a historic precedent in asking for the Sept. 11 defendants to be executed.
The decision to seek the death penalty for the six Guantanamo defendants is likely to draw criticism from the international community. A number of countries, including U.S. allies, have said they would object to the use of capital punishment for their nationals held at Guantanamo.
The cable is written in a question-and-answer format in anticipation of inquiries that diplomats may get from foreigners about the Pentagon's Monday announcement of the trial and charges.
Much of the cable is taken up with descriptions of the defendants and the allegations against them, as well as assurances they will receive fair trials.
The Nuremberg reference is in the response offered to the sample question: "Doesn't the application of the death penalty to these defendants violate international law?"
The one-word answer provided before the explanation that invokes Nuremberg: "No."
The proceeding will be the first capital trial under the terrorism-era U.S. military tribunal system.
A death sentence requires the concurrence of all members of the military panel who are present. Sentences of 10 years to life in prison require concurrence of three-fourths of the panel members.
Despite the confidence of military prosecutors, the case has been clouded by revelations that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the attacks, was subjected to interrogation tactics that critics call torture.
Steven Shapiro, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union, said: "The administration now has placed itself in a terrible bind because it subjected at least some, if not all, the six men to harsh interrogation techniques that the world regards as torture."
The cable instructs diplomats to advise foreign governments that the tribunal will not accept evidence obtained through torture and that the defendants can raise objections to any statements they say were made under coercion. Those decisions will be up to the judge, the cable says.
